1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a device and method for generating an x-ray point source and, in particular, a device a method for generating an x-ray point source by geometric confinement.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional imaging methods commonly produce an x-ray image of an object by examining the attenuation that the object causes when placed between an x-ray source and a detector. Photographic film images produced by this method in the medical field are widely familiar.
However, images so obtained are limited in resolution by physical size of the x-ray source. Therefore, although in theory x-ray images can be produced down to angstrom resolution, in practice this is not possible because of the typically large dimensions of the x-ray source.
In addition, in order to obtain x-ray beams with resolution on the order of 300 angstroms, synchrontron and x-ray optics equipment costing millions of dollars is required. Therefore, high resolution imaging is currently very expensive.